Appeal No. 2003-1177
Application No. 09/510,054
the other hand, as stated by the Examiner (final, page 4),
provides for weighted document themes, but not in relation to an
index engine (col. 8, lines 41-47 and 61-64). Although Schultz
searches a document index database 117 which contains a list of
search terms corresponding to potential search terms in a search
query (col. 4, lines 42-51), there is no mention of sending the
weighted metadata to an index engine.
Thus, assuming, arguendo, that it would have been obvious to
combine Meyerzon with Schultz, as held by the Examiner, the
weighted metadata of Schultz would still be independent of
indexing since the index of Meyerzon is associated with documents
themselves and not the weighted metadata. Therefore, the
combination would fall short of teaching the step of providing
the weighted metadata to an index engine. Accordingly, as the
Examiner has failed to set forth a prima facie case of
obviousness, we do not sustain the 35 U.S.C. § 103 rejection of
claims 1-3 over Schultz and Meyerzon.
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